Monday, November 26, 2018

Since Maddie was little it seems this girl has always struggled to breathe. She is always stuffed up, breathes out of her mouth and snores. When she was a toddler she was put on every allergy medicine out there whether it was a RX or an over the counter. It all worked for a short time but then seemed to come back. Nothing worked long term. I finally took her to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. We were told her adenoids were huge and needed to be removed. This would cause her allergy like symtoms. And so we did. She was 6 years old.

That 1st year after surgery she didn't snore, could breathe with her nose and we thought it had worked. But it didn't.... all her symptoms came back. So I took her back to the same specialist. To our surprise her adenoids had grown back and her tonsils had also grown since we had last been seen. Her tonsils were bigger than most grown men. So we had our 2nd surgery. Her tonsils were removed along with her adenoids again! She was 9 years old.

Oh how this little girl has grown! She is now 14 and it's like we're back to square one and has been for a few years now. The adenoids and tonsil removal may have helped but she can still get pretty nasally and stuffed up. For the past 4 years I have been taken her to see Dr. Pinkston who can treat allergies. He tests her one at a time and then treats her. She has been treated for dairy, egg and milk allergies. She has been treated for wheat and lentil allergy. Tomato and other acidic allergies. She has been treated for radiation that comes from TV's, ipods and flourescent lighting. During regular outdoor allergies he can treat her for 2-3 trees at the same time. He picks what is in bloom and seems to be bothering most of his patients and treats her. Again it all seems to help but then her symptoms come back. It is so frustrating! Our insurance doesn't cover Dr. Pinkston's visits and it all adds up pretty quickly!

A few weeks ago my sister, Hanna went to a different allergist who tested her for 80 different allergens all at once. I decided to take Maddie to see Dr. Penna after hearing about her experience. Thankfully our insurance covered her appointments.

This sweet girl was pricked with 10 small needles all attached to a board. There were 8 different boards carrying different serums in like familes. Maddie got pricked 80 times in about 60 seconds.

Within seconds the pricked area's (right shoulder to wrist and all of left arm) turned an angry red, started to swell and itch. She had to sit for 15 min while we waited for the serums to do their thing. It took all she had NOT to scratch and spread that syrum.

Ouch!

My phone camera isn't the best but I was trying to capture the welts and hives she had in the above picture.

After about 10 min some of the pricks almost disapeared. Mostly the ones on her right shoulder.

The nurse finally came back in and washed the serums off her arms and rubbed a special lotion that would help the itch to go away. Her comment when she first walked in was, "Well you're definetely allergic to a lot of things". Great!

The doctor soon came in and gave us the verdict. One set of 10 were foods. The most common food allergies. Mostly the foods she was already treated for by Dr. Pinkston. She still had some reaction but after 15 min the red, itchyness had gone away and you could barely see the prick marks. These spots didn't bother Maddie at all by then. So..... she's pretty good there he said. The other 70 pricks were outdoor allergies with about 5 of those for animals, dog, cat, horse etc. She is more allergic to cats than dogs. The crazy part is that she reacted to all 65 outdoor allergens. He said this is about every single tree and shrub found in Southern Utah. Wow!

So where do we go from here? Maddie has a perscription for Flonase that she is to take once a day. It is not harmful or addictive. She will probably be on this for the rest of her life. She was also given a perscription for Zyrtec. She is suppose to take one pill a day. This too is supposeldy not addictive nor harmful to take this often. I'm not sure how I feel about this. How can a little pill taken every single day not become addictive?

Our other option is to take her in once a week for an allergy shot. These appointments would last 1.5 hours to 2 hours each week. We live in Hurricane, the doctors office is in St. George. She would have to miss part of school once a week for these appointments. That's a lot of missing classes.

So for now we're doing the Flonase and Zyrtec. When school is about out we'll talk about having her treated once a week during the summer and see how it goes. We can also take our list of every tree and shrub to Dr. Pinkston and have him treat those individually. But again I think we'll wait till summer when schools out.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Thanksgiving was spent this year in Alton. We left home that morning about 10am and arrived just before noon. The kids quickly went in search of their cousins. Lunch was at 1 at the town hall. We had so much food!

These teen boys stuck together like glue.

Kyle, Gideon (back of) Orrin Zeke (back of) and Hunter (back of)

Rachel and Emily

Maddie and Kylie

Hunter quite often says he doesn't like kids. However, at every single family gathering he can be seen with a much younger cousin following him around or on his shoulders.

This is Kit (Klynt and Carries)

Ruth and Maddie

After lunch all the boys 10+ went up to the cemetary and went shooting. Grandpa had prizes for the best shop from the adult men and the younger boys. Hunter brought home a shotgun case! Way to go Hunter! The younger kids back to Aunt Harmony's where the kids played and watched a movie.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Near the end of October Brayden got off the bus carrying a plastic grocery sack full of boxed goods and canned food. I asked him where it came from. He replied that there was a man passing out bags to kids who were poor at school. My heart sank and I wanted to laugh out loud all at the same time. We are not poor. Our house is torn apart, we are always cold but really we aren't poor that my kids need to bring home a bag of groceries. We can provide for them just fine. So over the next week we had many discussions at home about what it means to be poor and the different ways we can be poor. Not just financially but poor in spirit and emotionally too. We talked about how we can help the "poor" too.

Fast forward a month and Brayden gets off the bus again carrying a bag of what looked like more boxed/canned food. Oh my goodness! The first thing out of his mouth was "Mom don't freak out and don't get mad. I know we aren't poor." I said OK why don't you explain it to me then....

Brayden- There was this man at school passing out bags again. He asked if I wanted one. I told him we weren't poor. He said it didn't matter if you were poor or where you lived or who you were. That everyone got to take a bag home that wanted one.

Kylie- Ya mom, I told Brayden we weren't poor. I told him we shouldn't take it. I told him.... our fridge is full where is Mom going to put all this anyways.

Brayden- Ya but everyone can have one. I'm just trying to help Mom out during the 2nd Coming!

Mom- What?

Brayden- Ya you know during the 2nd coming when farmers can't grow food and we don't get any rain and you can't buy food at stores. You know there are still over 200 people missing in California. And they can't go to stores for food either.

(California is suffering right now by some major fires. Many towns have been evacuated and people have died. Brayden has been learning about this at school)

Kylie- Ya, but Mom said we aren't poor. That food is for our poor friends.

Mom- (Speechless! How do I argue with him just trying to help?) We then proceeded to have a 10 min coversation on food storage and why I buy in bulk and how we keep it in the cellar. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Friday, November 16, 2018

In 7th grade Maddie had to make an edible cel for science. I never ended up getting a picture. So when she had to do it again this year in 9th grade I made sure I got one.

She may have taken it in the car, sitting on her lap on our way to school but I got one. This girl wants a 4.0 and she works her little tushy off and getting A's in all her classes. I love they way her edible cel turned out. Supposedly after they display them they get to eat them. Yum!

Thursday, November 08, 2018

For weeks now I have been finding similar drawing of this all over the house. It's always on my white board. I find it on scratch paper pads, on the back of Kory's order forms and the inside of coloring books. I knew it was Brayden's drawings but what the heck is it? I thought maybe it had something to do with Fortnite, the latest game that every little boy seems to eat, sleep and talk about. One morning I caught him in the act and asked what the heck this was? He replied it was his chess game. What? I didn't even know he knew how to play chess. I asked him who he was playing against? He said himself. Hmmm I wonder how well that works? I guess he wins everytime right?

Thursday, November 01, 2018

The little ones had a parade after lunch at school. They walked around the track once

That's my little incredible!

Mr. Joker who insisted on jogging around.

I volunteered to help in Braydens class party so I don't have pictures from Kylies. A few weeks before Halloween all of the 4th graders voted on whether to do a regular Halloween party or play store with the money they earn during the week for good behavior, good grades and turning in homework. The kids decided on the store. Those that signed up to be a store owner had to pay $100 for their space. Brayden had earned just over $300 if play money so he was good with that. At home he had done some extra chores and helped work on the house to earn money to buy his "Glow" sticks, bugs, necklace and rings. His store was everything that "glowed".

His store was super successful. He earned $1,064 in one hour and almost sold out of everything. He was so pleased! Being a store owner he then had to pay taxes on his sales of 10% to his teacher. He had a great time! Although he's never had to "pay" to go to the bathroom he knows he'll never have to worry about not having the money to pay for that bathroom break if needed. It was a long afternoon spent at the school but so much fun!

That afternoon I got texts from my 3 older kids. They were all wanting to go home from school with a friend and go trick or treating with them. I let them all go but now I regret it as I don't have a single picture from them. Bummer! Kory was going to go with the little ones and I but he insisted on working and by the time he got home he was in a lot of pain and so stayed home. The littles and I just stayed in our neighborhood walking up and down a few streets. Their bags were soon filled where it was to "heavy" to carry so we made our way home. It was quite the different Halloween night for sure.

Monday, October 29, 2018

With Kory breaking his collarbone just 2 days ago things have been a bit hectic. I'm stressed, Kory's stressed and still in quite a bit of pain and I feel like we are just having to take it one day or one hour at a time right now. My plans for Halloween didn't end up happening. Good thing we have next year!

Tonight our ward hosted its annual Trunk or Treat.

Miss Emily went as Harley Quinn from Batman and Joker.

Brayden was Joker!

Hunter didn't want his picture taken but was able to snap this anyways. He dressed like characters from the movie Grease with his best friend Karson.

Our Family

It all began in 2001 when Kory and I were married in the Las Vegas Temple. During our many years together we've brought 5 great kids into our home. We have switched careers a few times and have moved 13+ times. We enjoy being close to both our families.. We love spending our free time outside hiking, attending ball games, playing board games and just being together. Love my family!